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Sunday, June 19, 2016

Comics Rant: Swamp Thing #5

Shit, this was a damn fine issue of Swamp Thing. It makes me kinda wish it doesn't end anytime soon, but you know, as the old saying goes, "Sun rise, sun set." When last we left off, Matt Cable had tricked Alec Holland into turning over the powers of Swamp Thing to him. Then Matt went all bat shit crazy and decided that protecting Mother Earth ain't all it's cracked up to be and said "It's better if I just take it over. It'll be safer that way." Said every dictator ever!

Got to hand it to Kelley Jones. Dude is a pro, no matter whom the colorist is, he always finds a way to create this bleak atmosphere without using too much black and making the comic book a dark, hard to follow mess. Like Richard Corbin, and that's high praise indeed. Alec Holland is floating in the ground, where Matt Cable pushed him into, so he could, you know, kill him. It's kinda what evil people do. That and order tons of Pay Per Views on your cable bill then skip town. Alec is recused by the Parliament of Trees. Since Alan Moore created them, you know they cut his ass a check. That he'll never cash, because he has morals, and fleas.

Alec Holland along with a ton of guest stars, like Deadman and the Phantom Stranger, travel to Nanda Parbat; the enchanted city, and find the Hand of Fatima, which can pretty much be blamed for this whole Swamp Thing switch mess that we have on our hands here. Deadman lets Alec know that there is literally no magic left in the Hand and he's screwed. Back stateside, Matt Cable Swamp Thing is getting impatient with the world's governments taking forever to turn over the Earth to him. Hasn't this dude heard about the UN? It takes those motherfuckers forever to agree on lunch. This would take considerably longer.

Oh look, an ad for DC Rebirth. I could care less. The Gary Frank art looks bad. You can tell they must have rushed that poor fucker into getting that page done. That or he's suffering from Bryan Hitch syndrome where he forgot how to ink and just puts blacks all over the damn page and still gets paid. Only in comics, folks. Oh and Hollywood, too.

Cable Swamp Thing is starting to wreck shit in Houma, Louisiana. He's more like a spoiled child than an Element of the Earth with the power of the Plants behind him. How awesome would it be for someone to kick his ass via Homer Simpson vs the plant from when they went on Safari.

Lisa: "Dad, how'd you stop that plant from eating us?"

Homer:".........it's a flower."

Nuff said.

Alec Holland goes to Gotham City and just when you think you're gonna see Batman, Len Wein threw up a curve ball and we get Jim Corrigan. Well, he's only important because he's the alter ego of The Spectre. Holland wants The Spectre's help in getting the Hand of Fatima open to change him back into the one, true Swamp Thing. Kelley Jones' Spectre is terrifying. If anyone from DC is reading this, they should give Doug Moench and Kelley Jones a Spectre mini series. I won't say ongoing, because I know how the market nowadays is built. A book like that doesn't have staying power past the first few issues, but boy would that be a blast to read. Great Mini series so far, hopefully Holland can get his Swamp powers back before it's too late. Well, that or until Rebirth takes over and this whole thing gets retconned.